Exposed [Book 4 in the Expiring Series]

36 Classy

Erik~~

         The restaurant Meilin chose is crowded and loud, and the lighting is a harsh amber glow that makes everyone look a bit as if they radiate an orange aura. Since I want to stay seated in the booth, I'm forced to press against Rydersin, causing her to push more against Xioazhi who gets shoved against the brick wall. Meanwhile Meilin and Karn don't get to be extra cozy like us probably to the bitter disappointment of Karn. For someone who's trained to notice every minute detail, Meilin's had to have picked up on his crush on her.

Rydersin's leg presses tightly against mine. If this was Elleany, the Preeminence's daughter and her companions would never be squeezed into a booth near the bar where any drunk could spill their beer on her.

But Rydersin doesn't seem to mind that her tight tight dress that comes far above her knees is going to end up with some sort of residue on it by the time we leave. Her Veil aren't in their uniforms, but that doesn't mean they aren't on guard. It's clear that for tonight Rydersin wants to blend in, be one of the people. But as someone who spent a lot of time trying to be normal instead of a Society member, I know how futile that effort is.

As Rydersin shifts, trying to fit between me and Xioazhi the end of her dress rises up, and her bare leg presses against my clothed one.

"What are you looking at?" I hear Karn ask, and my eyes snap to him as I realize where on Rydersin my gaze had been.

Kill me. Just kill me.

But I manage to school my features and arch a brow. "Your beautiful face."

Meilin bites down on a smile.

Rydersin doesn't even bother pulling her eyes away from the table as she scrolls through the menu. We could have been at the Order by now, but she didn't want to go straight there. She didn't even bother giving us a reason—I suppose she feels she doesn't owe us one being the leader of our little party. Regardless, I'm certain if she had bothered opening up to us, she'd only reveal she's stalling.

Instead of having my own room tonight, as I am certain I would have had with the Order, I'm sharing a hotel room with Karn. Who is now probably going to grill me about why I was staring at the thighs of the woman he gets paid to protect. And if he deems whatever my eyes were doing to be "unsafe" then I may find myself dangling from the end of my balcony.

As I tap the table to open the menu, someone from the bar jostles into me, spilling the top layer of their too sweet-smelling drink on my arm. I clench my teeth as the person wanders off, not even bothering to apologize.

"I need some air." I push out of the booth and squeeze my way past the other patrons in the bar and in between the tight spaces between tables until I make it outside. But I find the air too humid, too sticky to be any reprieve. The buildings in this town are all too close together and made of something like cobblestone that if it was daytime, would make everything sweltering. Though none of them are more than three stories tall, they seem to tower precariously over me.

I look around for some sort of street sign. There's a lake somewhere, and if I go to the docks, surely I'll find a breeze.

My eyes snag on someone down the street, but they round the corner before I can get an adequate look at them. Yet for that brief moment, I could have sworn it was Andrew.

I take off in a jog. Andrew has no reason to be here, but if it is him, I want to know why and who he's working for. I don't know why he would be working for anyone, but it seems like the sort of thing that would be going on with him.

I round the corner, putting me on the main street where the sidewalks are crowded with Amorians visiting bars, dining at restaurants, and wandering in and out of shops. Any sign of the man is lost, but at the end of the street, the lake looms, somehow giving off the illusion that it's angled toward the town.

At this point I've been gone longer than I wanted to be, but I'm determined to go down to the lake. It's not as if they're missing me. Before I came along, it had always been the four of them. I'm sure they're happy for the few minutes it can go back to just them, so they can vent their frustrations about me to each other.

I'm doing them a favor.

I start to continue forward but hesitate. Maybe I should have told them to go ahead and order without me. No—I shake my head and walk. Why should I care? They're all adults. They'll do what they want.

When I make it to the dock, there's a small beach, empty unlike the dock crowded with Amorians holding hands and kissing. I step down onto the sand, the lake breeze already threading its way through my hair and brushing over my face.

Was I really staring at Rydersin? In such a blatant and, to be perfectly honest, creepy way? Couldn't I have been caught staring at something classy like her face?

Am I not a classy person?

The thought is a bit horrifying.

There's a rustle from the right, and as I turn, I feel a prick at my neck. I reach up, my hand hitting something small and cylindrical. I don't get a chance to pull it out before the ground rushes up toward me.

Not aga—

Spotify told me my audio aura this year has been dramatic and yearning.